diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 6675aba..02044be 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ project(
   license: 'Apache-2.0',
   meson_version: '>= 0.64.0',
   default_options : [
-    'buildtype=debugoptimized', 
+    'buildtype=release', 
+    'b_ndebug=if-release',
     'cpp_std=c++17', 
-    'warning_level=2'
+    'warning_level=2', 
+    'pkgconfig.relocatable=true'
   ]
 )
 
@@ -26,6 +28,33 @@ inc_local = include_directories('include')
 incdir_numpy = run_command(py, ['-c', 'import os; os.chdir(".."); import numpy; print(numpy.get_include())'], check : true).stdout().strip()
 inc_np = include_directories(incdir_numpy)
 
+## Begin compiler arguments
+compiler = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
+message('Compiler = '+compiler.get_id())
+_cpp_args = []
+if get_option('buildtype') == 'debugoptimized'
+  _cpp_args += compiler.get_supported_arguments(
+    '-O2',
+    # '-fsanitize=address', 
+    # '-fno-omit-frame-pointer',
+    '-g',
+    '-Wall'
+  )
+else
+  ## Release
+  _cpp_args += compiler.get_supported_arguments(
+    '-flto=thin',   # think LTO
+    # '-flto',      # monolithic LTO
+    '-O3',          # full optimizations
+    '-DNDEBUG',     # remove assertions
+    '-Wl,-s',       # strip symbols to reduce binary size
+    # '-march=native' # either this or lto seems to not work on multiple builds
+  )
+endif
+
+
+
+
 ## Compile the package directory
 subdir('simplextree')
 
diff --git a/simplextree/meson.build b/simplextree/meson.build
index a65c8a8..4199b49 100644
--- a/simplextree/meson.build
+++ b/simplextree/meson.build
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
-## Message the C++ compiler location for debugging
-compiler = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
-message('Compiler = '+compiler.get_id())
-
 ## Compiler flags
-_cpp_args = compiler.get_supported_arguments(
+_cpp_args += compiler.get_supported_arguments(
   '-Wno-unused-parameter', 
   '-Wno-reserved-identifier', 
   '/Wc++11-extensions',